Have mercy upon me ; the prayer of the penitent in the Fifty-first Psalm explained and applied

Front matter

©fmp* ©apttrij^rf

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

ABIDE IN CHRIST. Tkoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God. i6mo, cloth, $i.oc.

Preface

about that which grace is and does may entirely agree with the thoughts of God. Beloved, would that we could indeed endeavor to lay aside all merely human conceptions, all inherited ideas about grace, and with childlike submission inquire what God Himself says of it. He who thus yields himself with humble prayer to be taught of God, and who holds himself prepared to receive simply and without contradiction what God says, shall truly learn to understand grace. Amidst all the various words of this Psalm, that one word 'grace 5 remains its overmastering thought. The grace of God : would that it may be also for our souls the one topic that takes possession of us.

And what of the object which I have in view in limiting you to this topic ? The grace of God be with you All. Yes : that the grace of God may be with you, and may be your portion and your joy, is, in truth, my desire.

I am afraid that there may be some among you who shall read this book that have not yet known the grace of God in truth, that have not, indeed, found grace, because they have not yet sought it from the heart. They have long since heard of the grace of God, and yet it still remains strange to them. To all such I would fain set forth the desirableness and the indispensableness of the grace of God. In the light of God's grace, I would fain turn their attention to their sins, if by any means they might learn to deplore them with the penitent of this Psalm. And yritb their eyes fixed upon their sins, I would fain

PKEFACE.

turn their hearts to think of the grace of God, if by any means they might learn to desire it, so that their earnest prayer might thus be : ' Have mercy upon me, O God.' I would fain come to them with this prayer for blessing — The grace of God be with you ; it is seeking you, it is for you, it will bless you, and be with you. You have need of it, and there is no hope or salvation for you if you do not have it. Pray, suffer it to come to you and be with you. Yes : beloved friends who have not this grace of God, with all earnestness I will cry to God and ask it from Him for you — The grace of God be with you. Pray, do not repel me when, as your minister and your friend, I ask you to listen to me, while I proceed to exhibit the grace of God to you, and in God's name endeavor to impress it upon your heart that there is grace also for you.

I am quite sure that there are others among you who lift up the prayer of this Psalm with all earnestness, and yet do not taste the joy and the blessing which ought to follow upon the prayer. These still retain wrong ideas concerning the work which grace is to do, the way in which it manifests itself, and the conditions on which it may be expected and received. To all such I would fain point out what a complete provision there is in the grace of God just for their needs as sinful and very wretched souls. I desire to make them see how suitable, how free, how simple, how certain, how mighty, and how completely within their reach the grace of God is, I would also have

PKEFACE.

them know that their desires are certain to bring them to faith, and their faith to a blessed experience. I would, above all, direct them to this prayer for blessing: 'The grace of God be with you.' You are praying for it, you are seeking for it as if it were afar off. It is for you ; it is very near you ; simply receive it ; only believe ; suffer grace to be with you. And especially do I wish for all who may read this little volume to make this prayer with my eye fixed upon the God of all grace — 6 The grace of God be with you. 5

I pray and believe that there may nevertheless be among you not a few who already from the outset in hearing the prayer, ' Have mercy upon me, O God,' have learned to know in their own experience the blessed grace of God. For you not less than for others have I written these pages. This Psalm, which is ordinarily regarded as chiefly intended for those who are penitent, or who are seeking salvation, contains such glorious representations of all the rich blessing which the grace of God will implant in the soul, of the joy which it gives, the power it exercises, the confession it draws out, the God-glorifying thanksgiving which it enables the soul to yield, that it cannot be other than helpful for you also who believe to understand what we may be by the grace of God. O brothers and sisters, come and see with me in this Psalm the height to which grace exalts the penitent, and hear what the new song is which it puts into their lips in place of the prayer of the publican. Come

PEEFACE.

and understand what your God will do for you. ' Grace be with you 5 : experience it in its full power and in all its blessed operations, in all, especially, that it is to be for you. Only give yourself unreservedly to it, and do not remain content with anything less than all the riches which it will bestow upon you.

' The grace of God be with you all. 5 "With this prayer I commend both you and this little volume to the Lord. May He graciously use it for blessing in the congregation where He has set me to w r ork. May He also grant that w T here I labored in earlier days, or where the living voice can no longer be heard, it may not remain unblessed.

Tour minister and servant in the Lord,

Andrew MurraYo

Contents

HAVE MEEGY UPON ME: Introduction.

PAGE

I. A Psalm of David for the Chief Musician 19

Introduction

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David: when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

' The history of the Psalms is the history of the Church, and the history of every heart in which has burned the love of God. It is a h'story not fully revealed in this world, but one which is written in heaven. Surely it is holy ground. We cannot pray the Psalms without realizing in a very special manner the com m union of saints, the oneness of the Church militant and the Church triumphant. We cannot pray the Psalms without having our hearts opened, our affections enlarged, our thoughts drawn heavenward. He who can pray them best is nearest to God; knows most of the spirit Christ ; is ripest for heaven.'

— J. J. S. Perowxe.

I. The Psalms

A Psalm of David for the Chief Musician.

THE Book of Psalms is the innermost sanctuary, the * thrice Holy Place of the sanctuary of the Bible. In the rest of the Bible we receive instruction from God on the way to draw near to Him. In the Book of Psalms, God sets open the door of His secret dwelling-place, and He shows to us how His believing people come to Him, speak with Him, and enjoy fellowship with Him. There we see the throne of grace surrounded with suppliants, and we learn to pray. There is the grace of God manifested in the most glorious way.

To use another similitude, it is with the Book of Psalms as it is with the lowest class of an infant school. In the higher classes, which are all somewhat advanced, the teacher says what they have to learn. They must know how to help themselves, and have need of his help only from time to time. But with the youngest class, which is learning the ; A, B, C,' a different method is taken. Every letter must be pronounced before them, and, indeed, singly dictated to them. The teacher must put the sounds for them into their mouth, until they learn to pronounce and

HAVE MERCY UPOJS T ME.

know them for themselves. It is in this way that the Lord God deals with us in the Psalms. He comes as the Faithful One, still nearer to us than in the rest of the Bible. He bows still more tenderly to our weakness. He Himself puts into our mouth the very words with which we may come to Him. He is aware that we do not know how and what we should pray for ; therefore He comes and tells us for what we ought to pray. And when we take these words of His into our mouth, and continue to express them with the desire to understand them in order that we may feel and pray as it is there expressed, then He gives us His blessing, and His Spirit makes the words living and powerful in our souls. Precious Psalms, in which God's Holy Spirit Himself teaches us to pray.

This book will become yet more precious to you when you consider in what way the Lord God has dictated to you the words in order that you may pray after them. Has He sent to us from His high heaven directions for prayer as if He had ordained them there for us ? No : in that case they would not be truly human, nor would they be adapted to our condition upon the earth. No : the Holy Spirit has taught us to speak truly in the language of men, with the feelings of men, and from the heart of men. The Lord has taken men of like passions with ourselves, and sinners such as we are, in every possible condition of need and misery. He has taught them by His Holy Spirit to utter these prayers, and to commit them to writing ; and now He offers them to us as a Prayer-

THE PSALMS.

Book adapted to our need. Adapted to our need, I say, because they come from His Spirit, and are therefore divine ; and yet just as genuinely human, because they come also from those who are our flesh and blood, and are in everything like ourselves. That, too, is the reason why the Book of Psalms has been so precious to all sinners who are anxious about salvation, and has also proved such a blessing to them : the reason, too, why it will become precious to you, my readers, if you earnestly desire to seek after God. In other books of the Bible much is presented to you about sin and conversion, and the conflict and blessedness of believers. But here you may see and hear these believers themselves. In the Book of Psalms you. have the key of their inner chamber. There you may see them in their intercourse with God. There you hear how one confesses sin and entreats forgiveness ; how another praises God for His grace, and pours out his heart before Him. There you may kneel down alongside them and pray along with them. Your heart will become inflamed by their repentance and their faith.

But what do I say ? It is not only the inner chamber of believers that is open to you in the Psalms ; it is the innermost recesses of the heart. In solitude with God and in the light of His countenance, they lay all their misery naked before Him ; and there you may see as in a mirror what wretchedness there must be in your own heart of which you still know so little. The whole hidden conflict arising from the sense of

HATE MERCY TTPOX ME.

guilt, as well as conversion and faith, is there presented to you in living and visible form. There you may see how it goes with a soul who is under the working of God's Grace. Xever shall you learn to know sin, especially your own sin, aright until you have learned to agree with the deep confession of the suppliants of the Psalms. And never shall you learn to glory in God and rejoice in His grace, so much as when you have learned to give praise and thanks with the poets of the Psalms.

It is for this reason, also, that souls desirous of salvation have at all times very deeply loved the Psalms, and that many of the most eminent of the saints of God have declared that the Psalms become to them, the longer they use them, the more precious and the more glorious, and that there is no means of grace more rich and stable than the right use of the Psalms.

Tet why should I speak of men ? Think of the Son of God. It is He who has taught us the use of the Psalms, and sanctified them to us. When in the heaviest stress of His conflict He Himself has to lament, 6 My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? ' was that not a word of the Twenty-second Psalm written to meet His condition ? And, when dying, He cried, ' Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,' was that not a word from another Psalm ? And if the man Christ Jesus had need of the words of the Psalms to comfort and strengthen Himself in

THE PSALMS.

prayer to His Father, how much more must you, my friend, and I have our poor hearts prepared by these divine prayers to draw near aright to God.

The blessing arising from the use of these words, then, is great and sure — ' The word is nigh thee, saith the Lord, in thy mouth and in thy heart.' God has in His grace so adapted the Word to us that wherever any one takes these words into his lips and uses them, and then at once ponders them and expresses them, there a way is prepared for the Word to enter from the mouth into the heart. Through the gateway of the mouth the Word comes into the heart. Tou shall experience that the words of God are the living seed which germinates and shoots out roots, and springs upward and bears fruit. Your heart is the soil : you have only to open it, and you will experience that it is indeed the word of God which worketh mightily in you who believe.

My reader, I speak to you as one anxious to be saved. I invite you to meditate with me on the Fifty-first Psalm. Let us learn to pray this Psalm together. Let us ponder it verse by verse, learning it by heart and receiving it into our spirit, as well as uttering it before God upon our knees. For David this Psalm was the wav out of the depths of sin to the blessedness of forgiveness, to a rich experience of the grace of God. This Psalm can also bring you and me into this blessing. This Psalm will do it for us, if we use

HAVE MEKCY UPON ME.

and follow it faithfully. Reader, for God's sake, for your own soul's sake, I entreat you, prepare yourself with all earnestness to learn by heart and to pray this Psalm. The blessing which it will bring you is inconceivably great.

II. Psalu LI

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David: when Xathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

TX the Psalter of David we find psalms of different kinds. There are psalms of thanksgiving for praising and thanking the Lord ; there are psalms of instruction to teach ns one portion or another of divine truth ; there are supplicatory psalms in which God's help is entreated in the midst of distress or sorrow ; and there are penitential psalms in which, after confession of sin and guilt, entreaty is made for forgiveness and redemption.

The Fifty-first is one of the seven Penitential Psalms, and, indeed, the chief among them. To understand it aright, we must especially attend to the position in which David stood when he wrote it. The superscription above the Psalm tells us this. David had fallen very deeply into sin. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Even this was not all. He had tried to conceal his sin ; and when he did not succeed in this, he had Uriah put to death. Even this was not the worst element in his case. Had he but really felt and confessed his sin, all

HATE MERCY UPON 3IE.

might have been well ; but for well-nigh a whole year he continued hardened. It was only after the birth of his child, when God sent the prophet Nathan unto him, that he came to a true sense of his sin. Nathan had drawn from him a sentence of condemnation against a rich man who had robbed a poor man of his only pet lamb. It was only after the king had uttered the sentence, and Nathan had exclaimed, "Thou art the man,' that he humbled himself, and acknowledged, C I have sinned against the Lord.'

The prophet had thereupon announced to him in the name of God : 'The Lord has taken away thy sin. Thou shalt not die.' This, however, was not enough for David. So amazed was he now at the sight of what he had done, that he went to the Lord in deep self-abasement to confess his sin and entreat from God to bestow upon him. by His Holy Spirit, His divine grace for the forgiveness of sin and renewal of his heart. It was at this juncture the Psalm was written, that is, ' when the prophet Nathan came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.'

The reason, then, why I would fain have you learn to understand and take home to your heart this Psalm is, because I think that its lessons are so necessary and, indeed, indispensable. We are taught in our Catechism that there are three elements in the spiritual life which we must know if we would live and die as saved souls. These three elements are. How great our sin and misery is ; how we can be delivered from them ; and how we should live in thankfulness to God

FIFTY-FIRST PSALM.

for this deliverance. And nowhere shall we find these great lessons concerning misery, deliverance, and thankfulness more clearly explained than in this Psalm. Let us pray God to open our hearts to them, and to imprint them deep in our spirit.

The first lesson is this : how terrible the might, the power, and wretchedness of sin are. Think but for a moment who David was : the man after God's own heart; 'the man who was exalted on high; the anointed of the God of Jacob ; and the sweet Psalmist of Israel ' (2 Sam. xxiii. 2). Think of the wonders God had wrought by him and had manifested toward him. In what deep trials he had been purified ; how highly God had honored him, and how gloriously he had praised God ; and yet see what became of him whenever God abandoned him for a moment and gave him over to the bent of his own heart. Into what fearful sin has he fallen, and how long does he remain hardened in it ? Nothing but the Word of God by the prophet can bring him to an awakening.

I fear that there are many amongst us who do not know their sins, and have but imperfect ideas of them. The thought fills me with great sorrow ; for, until they know their sins, they cannot really come to confession of guilt or the experience of mercy. They shall die in their sin. When it is too late — in eternity itself, they will see what sin was. And that is the reason why L as a servant of the Lord, come to you with this Psalm. I would fain set before you the sin of David, and, like Nathan, say to you, ' Thou art the

HATE MERCY UPON ME.

man.' I would show you, if indeed, perhaps, you do not yet know it, how corrupt the nature of man is ; and how your heart, respectably as you may live in external things, is, nevertheless, the source of all sin, and makes you capable of all sin, if God does not keep you ; and especially I would fain show you how fearful the power of sin is to blind a man. You do not know your sin until the Spirit of God teaches you to know it. You do not know the real nature, the abominableness and the curse of sin, until God makes it known to you ; and therefore, I entreat you, come with me, listen to the prayer of David, a man of God. You shall learn what you do not yet know of sin and its fearful misery.

And there you will further learn what a glorious redemption is to he found with God. Meagre thoughts about sin and the confession of sin lead one to think little of mercy and the redeeming power of God. It is supposed to be something that is self-evident, and that may be very easily taken for granted, that one should obtain forgiveness and enter into heaven ; but in this Psalm you will learn something different. You will see that great things must be done in you. David feels that he must be washed by God from his sin, and that his transgressions must be wholly blotted out. He asks further that he may be entirely purified within, and may be renewed in heart, and that the Spirit of God may dwell in him always.

My reader, come with me and you will hear from David what must take place in you before you can be

FIFTY-FIRST PSALM.

saved. You must be washed in Jesus* blood, and be born again by His Spirit. And this Psalm will teach you that this glorious redemption is prepared for you ; that however sinful and helpless you may feel, you have access in prayer to a God who can and will work all of this in you.. The prayer of David is indeed designed by the Spirit of God to teach yon how you must come to God, and what yon may certainly expect and receive from God.

And then you will also further learn what a thankful life that of the redeemed soul is. You will understand in this Psalm how gloriously one who is partaker of the redemption of God feels himself knit to God. It becomes his one desire to praise and to serve this God. It is a joy to him to make known to others what God has done for him, and that not as a burden which is laid upon him, but as a work of love of which his heart has need, and for which the grace of God gives the power. You will also understand how grace will sanctify, not only the hidden life of the heart, but the outward life and conversation and walk ; so that » the redeemed soul may be known for the honor of God as one who through God has become an entirely new man. And you will also especially see how all this is wrought bv grace, and given to a sinner of like feelings with you and in the same misery with you. Yea, in this Psalm you will see a man first confessing his sin in the deepest misery and anxiety, then under the working of the grace of God receiving redemption, and finally glorifying God as a redeemed and emancipated soul.

HAVE MERCY UPON ME.

Beloved reader, this way you must also tread if you would be saved. And I long for your salvation. Therefore it is that I call you to join me in the study of this Psalm, in order that you may see how God saves a soul. Be not afraid of the earnest words which we shall speak to you about sin. The man who is not consciously a sinner and an ungodly soul, Christ will never save. Be not afraid concerning the difficulty of the way of salvation ; you shall at length see how God will do everything of which you have need. Be not afraid concerning the high holiness and the life full of thanksgiving in which you must walk. You will see that God demands nothing which He does not first bestow, and that the service to which He calls you is a blessed and joyful service of willing love, love which is awakened by His love shed abroad in the heart.

Gracious God, may we truly learn all this.

I.

THE GREAT PETITION.

1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-

kindness ; according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me

from my sin.

' After Thy loving -kindness, Lord,

have mercy upon me : For Thy compassion great, blot out all my iniquity.

Me cleanse from sin, and thoroughly wash

from mine iniquity : For my transgressions I confess ;

my sin I ever see.'

First Day.

'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness/ — Ver. la.

TJERE we have the first word of the penitent sinner. " In this utterance we have the key of true prayer. In this word we also find the key to the whole Psalm. He who does not sincerely fall in with this word will never understand the rest of the Psalm. The prayer of David will be for him as a sealed book.

And we must not think that this word may be understood so easily, and, as it were, of itself. During the long period before David was brought to humiliation by the Spirit of God to know his sin aright, he could not of himself use this simple prayer, — only the soul which has been brought to an awakening by God Himself can be in a position to use this word in prayer with the whole heart. And he only who uses it in prayer from the heart can truly understand it. This must especially never be forgotten. David has learned to utter this prayer upon his knees with a broken heart, in bitter sorrow for his sin. Much reading and much thinking may be necessary, but

HATE MERCY UPOX ME.

they are not enough for the right understanding of this prayer. It must be uttered upon the knees, with self-abasement, and to God. Then only can it become a blessing to us. Let us therefore look continually to God for His light and teaching, until by using it in prayer we have made this Psalm our own.

' Have mercy upon me, 0 God? The true suppliant believes that there is mercy with God. That with God there is mercy, is the greatest wonder of the divine being. The omniscience of God is a wonder. The omnipotence of God is a wonder. God's spotless holiness is a wonder. Xone of these things can we understand. But the greatest wonder of all is the mercy of God. Here upon the earth we think but lightly of this, and imagine that it cannot be otherwise, and are but little surprised at it. But it is not thus in heaven. There men are humbled at the thought of it, and never cease to adore and thank God for His mercy. For there God is known as the Holv One. It is known there that it is His honor to maintain His law, and to manifest Himself against sin as a consuming fire. It is known there what sin is : the shameful rejection of the Perfect One — of His law and His love. It is known there how entirely deserving man was of being rejected by God, and therefore it is that in this mercy of God such high glory is seen. That He should still have compassion for our fallen race ; that He Himself should pay the ransom for our sin at the cost of the blood of His Son ; that he should long after the ungodly, for-

THE GEEAT PETITION.

give them everything, and receive them to be His children, — all this is so great that the angels cannot marvel sufficiently over such mercy. And it was because David had heard that there was such mercy with God that he draws near to Him with this prayer. We also must endeavor to understand and believe that there is mercy with God.

Have mercy upon me, O God. The suppliant also feels that he has need of mercy. Mercy is something that is entirely undeserved, a boon to which we cannot lay the least claim. David feels that his sin is so shameful, and makes him so guilty in the eyes of the holy God, that it would be equitable in God if he should be condemned. Heaven would be bound to praise God if He vindicated His honor and His law in this manner. Man has nothing of which he can boast. If he has served God at an earlier period, that only makes his guilt the greater. It is not God alone that condemns him ; he condemns himself. He feels that he is entirely deserving of the judgment of God, for his sin had shown how he had withdrawn from God notwithstanding all the goodness of God towards him. He feels that it will be a marvel of mercy if such a sinner is still thought worthy to be made a friend of God. Tea, the true suppliant feels that he has need of mercy ; that nothing but free grace alone can be his hope.